Wow! That was a very long chapter! O_O
Anyways, enjoy!
Chapter 8: The second Temple of Gaia
Back at the Spagonia University, Pickle and Carlos finished telling Amy about everything that's happening in this planet. Soon, Sonic and Chip came in.
"Oh, Sonic! I still can't believe it's you inside that….THING. But! No matter the package, you're still my Sonic, Sonic!" Amy giggled in joy. Sonic just sighs.
"Sonic, I've checked the area and saw that you still cannot head to the Gaia Temple located here. However, the Professor was able to locate another Gaia Temple. It's located in Chun-nan. Also, my brother said to me that there is a pink hedgehog similar to Amy that is in desperate help. He also said that she's the princess from that region. So you should hurry." Carlos said. Sonic and Chip nodded and they left the University to find Tails.
"I know you can do it, my dear Sonic!" Amy said in her thoughts.
Sonic and Chip soon arrived at Chun-nan, still at nighttime. This region looked a lot like China itself. They wasted no time in finding the hedgehog in trouble. They noticed that the people were worried about the Princess not coming back.
They find this region to be filled with even more Dark Gaia monsters. Sonic had a bit of struggle when fighting them this time.
They arrived at a tall ledge over a circular chamber located next to the Gaia Temple. All of a sudden, a Phoenix creature came by flying, making Sonic and Chip duck. They watched as the Phoenix lands next to a pink hedgehog.
"Magus! P-p-please! Calm down! W-why are you trying to hurt m-me?" the pink hedgehog said horrified as she was backing away from the Phoenix. Sonic then jumps off from the ledge he was.
The Phoenix didn't listen to the hedgehog's words and prepares to bite her.
"AAHHHH!" She screamed as she closes her eyes. Sonic gasped and quickly stretched his arm to grab her and pull her back to him with the slingshot effect before the Phoenix manages to bite her. Chip then quickly uses the camera's flash to stun the Phoenix to keep him busy.
"Are you okay?" Sonic asked the pink hedgehog. She opens her eyes. Sonic saw that she was indeed very identical to Amy; she had the same styled pink quills and the same green emerald eyes. What's different on her is that her bangs' colors were black instead of pink, and she had pink lip-gloss; she also had black hair tied with Japanese-like ponytails, a Japanese-styled dark pink T-shirt, a purple fluttery skirt, long light-pink socks, pink sandals with little ribbons on each side, long white gloves with purple folds, and a light-pink ribbon on her hair for a cute look.
"W-who are you?" the hedgehog trembles in fear.
"Hey, don't be scared! He's the one who saved you!" Chip said cheerfully to calm her down.
"R-really? Oh, I'm sorry! That's because I'm a little timid and shy." She said embarrassed.
"It's okay." Sonic said in a calm tone. But he and Chip turned back to see that the Phoenix creature had regained his senses.
"Please! You've got to help me! Magus, our sacred beast who protects this land has suddenly gone crazy! As the Princess of this region, I'm supposed to support him. But I can't anymore because he's always attacking me!" the hedgehog said worried.
"Don't worry! Stay here! I'll take care of him for you!" Sonic said as he rushes to the Phoenix to take him down. The hedgehog was kind of worried; she knows that Sonic is going to hurt the sacred beast, but she had no choice since Magus is possessed.
The Phoenix starts by shooting flames from his mouth as Sonic climbs up on a small platform where a water pot was standing. He picks up the pot and throws it at the Phoenix, tearing off the flames covering him and lands on another platform, panting. Sonic quickly climbs up the platform where the Phoenix was standing and delivers a punch at the Phoenix's head, grabs his beak, and finally kicks at his throat.
"ARRRROOOOOOO!" Sonic lands on the ground and howls. Soon, the Phoenix regains his flames back.
The Phoenix starts to fly around the area and much later he came back with a crash landing, which was the perfect opportunity for Sonic to throw another water pot at the Phoenix and then, he punches his stomach, jumps on his head and delivers a very strong two-fist punch at it.
"You're done!" Sonic screams as he picks up the Phoenix's head and uses all of his strength to lift him in the air and smack him on the ground. Sonic lands on the ground and howls again.
"That's enough outta you!" Sonic said as he finishes howling and punches his knuckles. He then runs to the hedgehog who was surprised at his moves.
"Are you alright, Princess?" Sonic asked.
"Yes, t-thank you… Oh! I still haven't introduced myself! My name is Charlotte the Hedgehog! And you must be Sonic. You might look scary to me, but I know it's you. Remember when we went to that show one day, Sonic?" She said.
"Wait, it's that you, Charlotte? You look different…" Sonic was speechless.
"Yes, this is how I look like here in Chun-nan! I was just crowned Princess of Chun-nan and a huge celebration was held three days ago, until this tremor showed up and the celebration was ruined…and for I, I was so horrified with that tremor that I decided to hide here! But I was imprisoned here because of Magus' weird behavior! Now I bet all of my residents are missing me…" Charlotte sighs sadly.
Soon, Chip sees a strange looking green orb wrapped in a gold dragon carving. He picks it up. Suddenly, it glows with a flash of light. Chip notices that the orb made the doors in front of him open up.
"Whoa…it's that the Gaia Temple, Charlotte?" Sonic asked.
"Yes! It is! Well, you do have a Chaos Emerald, right?" Charlotte asked. Sonic nods. He, Chip, and Charlotte rushed to the Temple's inside.
Inside the Temple, Charlotte and Chip were along each other while Sonic was running as fast as he can, panting. Unlike his Hedgehog form, Sonic can't run as fast as a Werehog. Charlotte climbed the small steps in the circular chamber as Chip stands up in the square pillar's edge and uses his collar's green small orb to make the smaller square pillar appear as Charlotte watches curious. Chip then nods at Sonic and he nods back as he pulls another powerless Chaos Emerald and stretch his arm to place it at the circular hole.
The Chaos Emerald produced flashing red lights as it was lifted in the air by a pillar of red light. Its color and its energy were returned. The Red Chaos Emerald was restored!
The continent of Chun-nan's piece was surrounded in blue aura as it was slowly returning back to its original spot. Thanks to the Chaos Emerald's power, the third continent was put back into its place.
Sonic, Chip, and Charlotte were leaving the Temple as its doors were closing behind them. Charlotte noticed something and quickly jumps on a platform right in front of them as Chip flies up to it as well. Sonic had to stretch his arms to climb up to it and skids right in front of Chip, who was looking quite stunned at something, but got surprised by Sonic from behind him. Chip stands still, but Sonic, annoyed by this, shoves Chip out of the way. Sonic then gasped at what he's seeing.
The sacred beast was back, but not as a Phoenix anymore; he was now very kind and also regained his original colors back.
"The moment the Temple lit up, Magus, our sacred beast reawakened. And he appears to have finally regained his senses!" Charlotte giggles at the last sentence as she was petting Magus.
"I see it now. You…" Sonic started but was once again annoyed by Chip, which made a karate kick at his head from behind and flies to the creature. Sonic tries to shoo off Chip as he continues.
"Your job was to guard the Chaos Emerald Temple. But when the Chaos Emerald lost its power, you went berserk because of it." He said to Magus. Magus does a squawk.
"I'm glad you're back to normal now! Wanna eat this?" Chip asked as he hands Magus a chocolate bar. Magus accepts it as he grabs it from his beak and flies away.
"Bye bye!" Chip waved.
Magus was standing at the Temple's top to protect it once again.
Dawn was drawing near; it really was a long night for Sonic and Chip.
Soon, it was finally day time in Chun-nan, and Sonic was back as a Hedgehog once again. He and Chip were watching as Charlotte received a grand welcome to her people. Peace was restored to Chun-nan thanks to Sonic. As the grand welcoming was over, Charlotte and Sonic were having a conversation.
"Sonic, thank you so much for restoring our continent back to its place. I really couldn't have done that without you. I sometimes wonder if I could become brave just like you someday." Charlotte said.
"Lottie, I'm sure you will become brave, just don't let your shyness take over you." Sonic winked at her. This made Charlotte blush.
"Oh, thank you Sonic." She said. She then looks around. "You know, even if I'm the Princess here, I also want to have some fun too. Do you do something fun during your free times, Sonic?" she asked.
"Well, fun IS my kind of thing! Why don't you come with me on the first act together?" Sonic gives thumbs up and offers his hand to Charlotte.
"Um, sure… If you say so…" Charlotte said in a timid tone and takes Sonic's hand.
Sonic leads Charlotte to Dragon Road. They were running downwards a structure which looks very similar to the Great Wall of China. From the scenery, there were tall green bamboos. The structure's road continues downwards and it also had Chinese flags on the sides. They were flung in the air by red springs and they ended on another road with a red dragon structure (hence its name, Dragon Road). They were alternating roads as they were bashing Eggman's robots. Sonic was using his Homing attack while Charlotte was whacking them with her Neko Neko Hammer, which is a hammer similar to Amy's Piko Piko Hammer, but instead of yellow and red, Charlotte's hammer was purple and pink, respectively. Sonic was watching Charlotte bashing the robots with her hammer; he saw that she really reminds him of Amy because of the way she was hitting them. But unlike Amy, Charlotte was shy and timid and not a stalker, so in terms of that, she was like Cream the Rabbit. Because of that, Sonic was happy seeing that Charlotte is letting out her brave side. They continued forward and reached some spinning platforms with spike rolls. They traversed carefully, avoiding the spikes. After this section, they had fun grinding on some rails together which led them to a bamboo pound. Charlotte watched impressed as Sonic was running on the water while she was landing on the small 'islands' on the pound. Sonic then held her hand to show how it's done and she learned fast. They continued to run on the green water and spotted some boats in the shape of dragons. They soon reached another red Chinese-like structures located right above the pond. Charlotte was taking the low path while Sonic takes the roof and grinds on it. The roads were once again alternating between Chinese floor roads to a red dragon structure road. After more spinning platforms sections, the two hedgehogs grabbed a firework rocket and let go of it before it explodes in the sky. They found more spinning platforms, where this time, there were homing missiles pursuing Sonic only, but Charlotte managed to knock them out of his way. They grabbed another rocket and landed on a white road, where they were surprised by a mecha which can shoot lasers in three positions. They were sidestepping to avoid the lasers until it finally explodes.
Sonic and Charlotte managed to finish the first act of Dragon Road together as they high-fived each other. They soon made back to the main town of Chun-nan.
"Wow, Sonic! I've never had that much fun in my whole life! Thank you for bringing me there and teaching me how to run on the water! Also, thank you for believing in my bravery." Charlotte said very happy and hugs Sonic, making him blush as he hugs back.
"You're welcome, Lottie! I've also had a lot of fun too! But now, I must go. I have a big planet to restore!" Sonic said as he and Charlotte pulls away from the hug and heads to Tails, where he was ready to depart with his Tornado.
"Be strong and tough, Charlotte. Then your bravery will still go on!" Sonic said as he jumps on the Tornado's back, ready to bid a bond farewell to Charlotte.
"Goodbye Charlotte!" Sonic said and waves at her as the Tornado takes off.
"Bye Sonic! I'm counting on you! Good luck!" Charlotte, as well of her citizens, waved back.
To be Continued…
As you can see, I tried to recriate everything you see in the first act of Dragon Road! ;)
